Zephyr: Winds of Change
Zephyr: Winds of Change Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Game Components & Setup
- Game Goal & Selecting a Mission
- Selecting Your Ship
- Upgrading Your Ship
- Upgrade Types
- Playing Actions
- Crew Members
- Crew Members (Continued)
- Starting a Mission
- Order of a Day
- Moving
- Patrolling
- Exploring
- Reaction
- Battle
- Commanders
- Multiple Ship Battles
- Warlords
- Warlord Battle
- Return to Resupply
- Trading
- Critical Damage
- Single Player Rules
- Variants
- Glossary
- Recommended Starting Builds
Game Components & Setup
Each player places their ship mat along with its matching action deck, standee, and ship ability token, in front of themselves. Place the mission, region, skirmish, and scavenge cards in the center of the table, and keep all other supplies in a space that can be easily reached as needed.
Components
Player Ships (see page 5)
- 5 Ship Mats
- 5 Scrap Meters
- 50 Base Action Cards (10 for each ship)
- 5 Ability Tokens
- 5 Ship Standees
- 5 Ship Targets
Upgrades (see page 6)
- 17 Structure Hull
- 19 Armor Hull
- 20 Bronze Systems (4 of each type)
- 15 Silver Systems (3 of each type)
- 10 Gold Systems (2 of each type)
- 5 Epic Systems (1 of each type)
Crew Members (see page 8)
- 20 Crew Factions (4 of each type)
- 40 Crew Personalities
Adventure Cards
- 8 Missions (see page 4)
- 12 Regions (see page 10)
- 22 Assignments (see page 10)
- 51 Skirmish Cards (see page 13)
- 51 Scavenge Cards (see page 13)
Enemies
- 10 Commanders (see page 18)
- 22 Enemy Ships (see page 15)
- 6 Warlord Personalities (see page 20)
- 6 Warlord Abilities
- 6 Warlord Waves
Miscellaneous Supplies
- 60 Wooden Cubes
- 4 Dice
- 4 Reference Cards
Game Goal & Selecting a Mission
When beginning a game of Zephyr: Winds of Change, you must first select a mission. Each mission varies in length and difficulty (difficulty icon). Based upon your relationship with fellow players, select a mission that best fits your group. Missions define the goals that players will cooperatively attempt to accomplish in order to achieve victory (goal icon). In addition, mission cards state the starting supplies that each player receives (starting supplies icon), as well as keeping track of the overall mission progress through a series of regions (mission progress icon).
Mission Card
The mission card is labeled as follows:
- A. Mission Details
- B. Goal(s)
- C. Starting Supplies
- D. Mission Progress
(The card's remaining labelled element, shown at the lower right of the card diagram, is not given a letter in the printed legend.)
The example mission card shown is "Plane & Simple" (20 Minutes per player). Its details read: Assignments (assignment icon, with no number printed beside it on the diagram); Elimination: Standard; Difficulty: Hard. Its flavour text reads: News of bandits on plaguing the city of Flotsum has traders scared witless. Meanwhile the citizens are without supplies. Drive these bandits off. Its event criteria read: Complete assignments in the amount of 1 for each player. If completed draw and fight 1 enemy commander (commander icon). Instead of that commander's enemy ship draws, draw one additional enemy ship for each player. Its starting supplies read: 1 ship with 2 structure hull upgrades (structure hull icon) for each player outfitted with 90 scrap. Its mission progress track shows Tier 1 Region, Tier 2 Region, and Tier 3 Region sections, with a final mission-goal space.
Single player rules: see page 23.
Mission Events
Each mission varies in its make-up and many have events represented by an icon on the region track (event icon). Mission events replace a typical day's activities with those defined on the mission card. Missions may also have requirements that must be completed in order to proceed toward the accomplishment of that mission.
Assignment Setup
Once your mission is selected, set up the assignment deck by including only the assignments that have at least one icon (assignment icon) from the mission's assignment section under the mission details (mission details icon).
The example shown is the "Pest Control" Rescue Assignment, which bears the assignment-icon marker and reads: Find the commander that has been attacking trade routes in the southern region by traveling 2 days and...
Starting Supplies
The starting supplies section of the mission card outlines what each player receives at the start of the game. Missions typically include one ship for each player. Players select their ship and add any other components outlined by the starting supplies section. Before the mission begins, all ships are docked at the resupply barge. While at the resupply, you may freely purchase upgrades and hire crew as long as there are no other restrictions and you have the required resources as well as adequate space on your ship. Throughout the adventure, players return to the resupply to repair and upgrade their ships. See page 8 for information pertaining to ship upgrades.
Selecting Your Ship
Each player's ship has its own set of unique abilities that contribute to the team. When selecting and upgrading a ship, consider strategy in regard to how your build will affect your team, and how it stands alone.
Action Deck
Each ship comes with a base action deck (action deck icon) of 10 cards. These cards define the ship's default starting capabilities.
Ship Mat
Ships also have a ship mat that defines possible hull upgrades (hull icon) and ship systems (system icon) that can be installed, and crew stations (crew icon) that may be filled. Hull upgrades define the amount of damage you may sustain before taking critical damage (see page 15). Ship systems (see page 8) give additional actions that your ship may execute during the game and while hiring crew (see page 9), and may also allow you to play additional actions and access unique crew abilities. The ship mat also shows the amount of cards that a player may draw (draw icon), and how you can increase this amount.
The ship mat is labeled as follows in the printed diagram:
- A. Action Deck
- B. Hull Upgrades
- C. Ship Systems
- D. Crew Stations
(Two further unlettered-in-the-text locations on the diagram, marked E and F, are not described in the printed text.)
Ship Ability
Each ship also has a valuable ability (ship ability icon) which is unique to each vessel. This can be activated by flipping it over.
Ship Standee
Your ship standee allows you to track your position while on assignments (see page 10) and patrolling (see page 12).
Ship Target
The ship targeting token is used to define which ship you are firing at in the event that you find yourself faced with multiple assailants.
Upgrading Your Ship
A resupply barge has been dedicated to joining you on any missions you or your group take. It will be well supplied with ship systems and newly recruited crew members to help you on your voyages. However, this all comes at a cost. Each mission will provide you with some starting resources, but it is up to you to earn more scrap and systems to prepare yourself for the battles ahead.
Purchasing
Commerce, these days, proceeds with trades and barters. However, most everyone accepts scrap metal as a common medium of exchange. Each upgrade, whether hull (structure or armor) or ship system (attacks, maneuvers, or tech), has a price that must be paid in scrap. The prices are listed on the upgrade price table:
| Tier | Price |
|---|---|
| Bronze | 10 Scrap |
| Silver | 20 Scrap |
| Gold | 30 Scrap |
| Epic | N/A* |
Upgrades can be purchased or sold when at the resupply. When selling upgrades you receive half of their value above. * Epic systems cannot be purchased or sold.
Systems may be purchased at the start of a mission and whenever you return to the resupply. You may only install a new system if there is an open upgrade slot with the matching icon on your ship mat. Once paid for, you may install your new upgrades.
Installing
When installing a hull (structure or armor), place the tile unbroken side-up on the matching slot on the left side of your ship mat. When installing systems (attacks, maneuvers, or tech) you must place the tile on a space that matches the action type symbol. Add the related card to your action deck and shuffle.
You may only install systems while at the resupply; otherwise, store them in cargo next to your ship. Ships who take critical damage lose all systems currently in their cargo.
Upgrade Types
A. Hull Upgrades
There are two kinds of hull upgrade: structure and armor.
Adding hull upgrades allows you to sustain more damage. Armor can be a wise investment because it repairs automatically at the start of each day. On the other hand, structure only repairs upon returning to the resupply.
B. System Upgrades
Adding system upgrades to your ship will add functionality, as well as increase the amount of action card draws that you get each phase. Systems may also be sold any time you are at the resupply for half their original cost. For your first mission, you may want to consult the recommended build for each ship (see the back cover).
System Types
Each ship system has a different use and is defined by its card text. All systems fall into one of three main categories: attacks, maneuvers, and tech.
- Attacks: Attack actions mainly deal damage, and are the primary method of engaging enemies during escalated hostile negotiations.
- Maneuvers: These actions reduce or evade incoming damage. One evade allows you to choose one normal attack. That chosen attack has no effect on your ship.
- Tech: Technical actions are utility based actions and can provide a wide range of abilities from repairing damaged hull, to drawing additional cards.
Playing Actions
As a captain, you know your ship and can perform any type of action a situation requires. However, as you are a singular being, you can only execute one action per phase by playing one card of any type. Adding crew members allows you to take additional actions as well as access unique abilities inside and outside of battle.
Crew Members
Each ship has a number of crew stations located on the bottom of the ship mat (crew station icon). If a crew occupies a station with a symbol on it, they enable an additional play of that type each phase as long as they remain in that station. Crew stations may enable attack (attack icon), maneuver (maneuver icon), or tech (tech icon) plays.
Crew Cost = 20 Scrap
Crew cost 20 scrap to hire and may be released from your ship at any time (with no refund). Crew consist of personality and faction cards that grant additional abilities and can be activated independently of each other. They do not affect the extra play enabled by their crew station.
The crew diagram is labeled as follows:
- A. Crew Stations (on the ship mat)
- B. Crew Faction Card
- C. Crew Personality Card
Crew Death
If a crew dies, the personality is placed out-of-play and cannot be used again. Faction card(s) are then returned to the supply.
Off Cooldown / On Cooldown
Cards are shown in two states: OFF COOLDOWN and ON COOLDOWN. Flip to activate ability.
B. Crew Factions
When hiring crew members, choose one faction card (faction icon) from the available faction cards. This card gives the crew member one ability that can be activated by flipping it over. Example A is an Imperial faction. When the Imperial faction is activated, you draw one card and gain an additional tech play that can be used with any card in your hand. Once activated, this power must cooldown. 1/trip abilities can be used once, and are restored upon returning to the resupply. 1/day abilities restore at the start of each day.
The example crew personality shown is Cocidius, whose ability reads: Kill 1 enemy crew member. 1/day.
Crew Members (Continued)
C. Crew Personalities
As employers, we cannot completely control what type of person is hired. Hopefully, we find a crew member who brings some additional useful skills to the table. Once you have chosen a faction for the crew member you wish to hire, draw a random personality (personality icon) from the deck of clear cards. This is done by shuffling the deck face down, then cutting it and taking the personality exposed in this way. The personality card is placed on top of the faction card. These combine together to make one unique crew member. These two cards do not separate until this crew member dies, or until the game ends.
The example shown is the Rogue personality card, which reads: Draw 1 card, +1 Manuever (maneuver icon) play. 1/trip.
D. Companions
The personality deck has a number of companions (companion icon) that bring additional abilities to your crew. When you draw a companion, immediately draw an additional personality. If this new personality is another companion, return it and select again. Place the companion with the personality on top of the faction card. These crew members gain three abilities from which their captain can call upon.
The example companion shown is Ransom, a companion whose ability reads: Change your target to a new ship. 1/day. (The Rogue crew member with the companion Sebastian T. Keeler shown alongside also has the ability: Add or subtract 1 from one of your dice rolls. 1/trip.)
If a crew member with a companion suffers death, the companion may be transferred to an adjacent crew member of your choice. If you have no more crew, then the companion is also lost.
Starting a Mission
Regions
The mission card outlines the structure of the game over a series of regions. When the marker is initially placed on the first day of a region, immediately reveal a new region card (replace any other region cards that are currently in play). This card defines a special global effect that persists while players are in this region.
Assignments
Upon entering a new region, each player, if not already on an assignment, may draw one assignment card. This assignment is an optional job, which if completed, can distribute rewards (reward icon).
Each assignment has a goal (goal icon) that may vary from a series of events, to simply surviving until the final day (final day icon) of the assignment.
An assignment's duration varies in days and is dependent upon the assignment, and your chosen path in the assignment. The length of the assignment may span multiple regions — but beware — enemy ships scale based upon the mission region.
Each day has an icon (exploration icon) that indicates the type of exploration that will occur for all ships on this assignment. Days marked by a letter have events unique to this assignment, and have their own explanation. Events that bring enemy ships, as well as spaces with a commander icon (commander icon), indicate a group battle that all ships on the assignment enter simultaneously.
During the move phase, you may choose to discard this assignment, or embark upon it. Place your ship standee on one of the first days of the assignment. The first day is indicated by an arrow (arrow icon). If there is still available space, and they are not on an assignment of their own, allies may place their standees in the allies section (allies icon). If this is your assignment, you are the party leader and receive the assignment rewards with the option to split the bounty as you see fit. In addition, the party leader has final say in all disputes between ships on this assignment.
Any player may abandon an assignment at the end of each day. However, assignment rewards are only received if all assignment goals are completed, and at least one ship survives through the final day. If no ships are on an assignment, the assignment is discarded. If the party leader abandons an assignment, they must first appoint a new party leader from the remaining allies on that assignment. If an assignment is completed, the party leader may draw one new assignment.
The example assignment shown is "Thin the Ranks" (a Rescue Assignment): A commander is in the area. See if you can separate... of their forces. Its labelled outcomes read: A. Draw 1 enemy ship. If you defeat this ship, the amount of enemy ships the commander brings... B. Draw 1 enemy commander. Reward: 20 scrap. (Remaining text on the diagram is partly obscured in the source image and is not transcribed here.) The diagram labels A through E mark the route spaces, the goal, the allies section, and the day-1 start.
Order of a Day
After selecting a mission and selecting and outfitting your ship, you are ready to enter the mission and begin the game. The game persists over a series of days, and each day has a number of phases. The phases are listed below. The player who has last worn goggles goes first.
- Move (page 12): During this phase, players move the day marker to the next day on the mission card's progress track, embark on assignments, progress along assignments, or move their ship to patrol.
- Explore (page 13): Based on the space your standee or your party leader's standee occupies, you will execute special event or a normal exploration which is indicated by a question mark. While on a normal exploration, on an assignment, or while patrolling, draw either a skirmish card for combat related endeavors, or a scavenge card for other perilous explorations.
- Battle (page 15): If your assignment space or exploration card requires you to draw an enemy ship(s), and you are unable to discard them, you will enter a battle once all players have revealed their exploration cards.
- A. Attack Phase (page 15)
- Declare Targets
- Draw Cards/Player Actions
- Resolve Enemy Actions
- B. Regroup (page 17)
- Other Players May Join
- Discard
- C. Salvage (page 17)
- A. Attack Phase (page 15)
- Battle (page 15): If your assignment space or exploration card requires you to draw an enemy ship(s), and you are unable to discard them, you will enter a battle once all players have revealed their exploration cards.
- Complete Assignments (page 10): If at least one ship is still alive on the last day of an assignment (final day icon), they may complete the assignment.
Moving
The first phase of a day is the move phase. Here, players move their ships defining where they are travelling on this day. At the start of the move phase, the marker is moved one space upon the mission track (mission track icon). When starting a mission, simply add the marker to this track at day one of the first region.
Upon entering a new region you must reveal a region card (region icon). This card gives a special global effect that stays active while in this region.
Additionally, upon entering a new region, all players who are not currently on an assignment must draw assignment cards (see page 10).
If you did not just enter a new region, players move their standee to the next space on their assignment (assignment icon) or patrol, or take on a new assignment if available. Players cannot join an assignment that is already in progress.
The move phase decision flow reads:
- On an Assignment?
- Yes: Move Marker Up
- No: Join a new Assignment, or Move to Patrol
Patrolling
From time to time, you may find yourself without an assignment, or may deliberately choose to not go on assignments. On these days, you "patrol" around the resupply by placing your marker on the current region card. Any number of ships may patrol at the same time.
Patrol days are the same as any other normal exploration day with a question mark (question mark icon). However, trips are much shorter, and you return to the resupply at the end of each day.
Patrolling can be a much safer endeavor. Just ensure that you're meeting all of your mission criteria.
Exploring
The exploration phase activates the space your standee occupies (space icon) revealing the day's situation. While on an assignment as an ally, the assignment owner tracks the progress. However, the space they occupy applies to all players on that assignment. Exploration (question mark icon) happens on an individual basis, whereas events happen to the group as a whole.
The exploration phase has two sections. First, each player reveals what happens to them on this day in order of turn. They must make any decisions required on their card. If a battle has occurred, the participants are revealed. However, the battle only begins after all players have revealed the events of their day.
Question Mark Spaces
The most common space is the question mark space (question mark icon). This space indicates a standard exploration. This is also the default action players take while patrolling. A player in this space may choose to draw a card from either the red skirmish (skirmish icon) deck or the blue scavenge (scavenge icon) deck. The actions of this space happen to each player individually unless otherwise specified. If a battle is revealed, a player must fight it on their own until an ally in the same area is able to join them during the regroup phase (see page 17).
The diagram reads: question mark = Choose, between Skirmish Cards (red deck) or Scavenge Cards (blue deck).
Lettered Spaces
Other spaces are marked with a letter, and are unique to their assignment. Assignments with these spaces describe their activity.
Commander Spaces
When you occupy a space with a commander icon (commander icon) space, you must draw and fight an enemy commander. All allies on this assignment join the battle from the first phase.
Reaction
Many exploration cards have opportunity for reaction where you can use your ship to solve problems or avoid dangers. A reaction (reaction icon) tells you to "Draw your action cards". Take cards into your hand in the amount indicated on your ship mat (draw icon), as well as any bonuses given by ship upgrades. These cards show the options available to you, the captain, in the current situation. With more upgraded systems, your ship has more capabilities, and therefore, more cards.
Each reaction has unique criteria and explains the various results based on the cards you are able to play. As the ship's captain, you can always play one card of any type from your hand. You may also be able to play additional cards of specific types based upon occupied crew station or crew abilities (see page 8).
The diagram labels are as follows:
- A. Exploration card (for example, "Hazard Pay")
- B. Ship mat detail, showing starting hand size and a card bonus for each ship system
- C. Crew member card
Once cards have been played and other abilities have been activated, resolve the exploration card by comparing the actions you were able to play with the description on the exploration card (exploration card icon).
After the situation has been resolved, discard the exploration card, discard any cards you currently have in play, and discard all cards from your hand.
Example: Hazard Pay
The example exploration card "Hazard Pay" reads: The blasted salvaging winch is on the fritz again, but you aren't about to pass up on some easy scrap. React: (Draw your action cards). Play 1 tech card (tech icon) to patch up the wench. Roll for scrap. — or — Play 2 tech to fix the wench. Roll 3 times for scrap. — or — Send your crew down on ropes. Roll: 1-2 Roll for scrap. 3-6 Gruesome death for your first crew member.
React example: In this situation Liz has drawn the "Hazard Pay" card. She always has one captain's play which allows her to play a card of any type (attack, maneuver, or tech). She also has a crew member in an attack station (attack icon) giving her +1 attack play. For this reaction, she can resolve it by using her captain's play to utilize either of the tech cards in her hand. However, Liz is clever and decides to use her occupied crew station to play the "Sprocket Rocket" attack which gives her +1 tech play and allows her to fill the second criteria of the react phase.
(The example's displayed cards include "Sprocket Rocket" — "Deal 1 damage. You may play 1 additional tech card this phase." — and partially visible cards that are not fully legible in the source image and are not transcribed.)
Battle
If an enemy ship (enemy ship icon) has been drawn and you are unable to discard it through the criteria of the event (or by activating abilities), the hostile ship attacks, and you are engaged in battle. Players who are engaged in battle must remain in the battle until they win, lose, or die.
Any time you draw an enemy ship, you must add cubes to its enable systems. These systems are indicated by the numbers on their slots. The number relates to the current region. Enable all slots with the same number as the current region or lower.
There are three phases to battle. The attack phase (first) and the regroup phase (second) repeatedly cycle until all ships from one side have been defeated or are otherwise removed from the battle. The third phase is the salvage phase, and is only accessible upon victory in battle.
The enemy ship example shown is "The Octodecillion" (Tock). Its abilities read: 1. 1 Damage; 2. Evade 1 Attack (maneuver icon); 3. 1 Damage; 4. 1 Damage and roll again; 5-6. N/A. (The enemy ship card is labelled A on the diagram.)
A. Attack Phase
1. Declare Targets
During the attack phase, you must define which ship in the battle you are targeting using your colored target token (target token icon). You may only target one ship at a time. All of your attacks will be directed at this target unless otherwise specified. All enemy ship(s) will target you. If there are multiple players in a battle, see the multiple ship battle section (page 19).
2. Draw Cards/Player Actions
This phase of the battle proceeds the same as the reaction phase on the previous page. Draw cards as indicated by your ship mat. Play cards using your captain's play, occupied crew stations, and/or crew abilities.
Actions may be played in any order, but may not exceed the amount available through captain's play, crew stations, and abilities. To play a card, place it on the table in front of you. If this card has actions that interact with an enemy ship, they are postponed until the "Resolve Enemy Actions" phase. Otherwise, take the action indicated by the card.
Actions example: In the case shown here, Liz could use her occupied crew station to play "Cannon Blast", her captain's play to repair her hull, and still activate her "Rogue" crew faction ability (crew faction icon) to play "Deflection".
The example cards shown are "Cannon Blast" (Deal 1 damage), "Rapid Repair" (Immediately repair ... currently damaged ... upgrades.), and "Deflection" (Place one cube on this card for each of your currently undamaged armor upgrades. When taking damage, you may immediately remove any quantity of cubes to reduce the incoming damage by 1 per cube removed in this manner.).
3. Resolve Enemy Actions
Once all cards have been played and any other desired abilities have been activated, you may "Reveal Enemy Actions".
Both the enemy actions and your actions happen simultaneously. Therefore, an enemy cannot be destroyed before their damage resolves on your ship.
Enemy Rolls
Actions resolve starting with any enemy commanders, and proceeding through ships by their marker count.
Each ship rolls one die for their captain, and an additional die for any crew members they may have. In the case above, we see the enemy ship has one crew, so two dice are rolled. Each of these dice are matched to that ship's numbered abilities (ability icon). The damage they deal comes to you, their target, unless reduced or evaded.
Evades/Reduction
One evade negates all of the damage of a single attack. Evades you have played are held in reserve until you chose to apply them to an attack of your choice. Evades that the enemy may have performed negate the damage of your attacks. Enemy evades begin with the attack with the highest damage amount, then the highest valued system (base deck systems being the lowest), then by the first card played.
Reductions reduce the total damage being dealt to a ship this phase.
Hull Damage
Each hull upgrade is damaged at a one-to-one ratio. One damage causes one hull to be flipped to its damaged side. Two damage would cause you to flip two hull always starting at the top of your hull upgrades and working your way down.
Resolve example: Liz has rolled twice for the enemy's actions. The five is N/A on the enemy ability section, so it has no action. The three is one damage. Since she has repaired her armor with "Rapid Repair", "Deflection" now will reduce incoming damage by two. Her ship takes no damage this phase. The enemy ship takes one damage from "Cannon Blast". She removes one cube from the enemy ship starting at the top.
B. Regroup
At the start of the regroup phase (regroup icon A), if any ship has had all their hull upgrades damaged, they are destroyed and removed from the battle.
If there are remaining ships on both sides of the battle, these phases continue to repeat finishing up the regroup phase and starting the attack phase again.
If all ships on one side or the other have been destroyed or removed from that battle, discard all cards in your hand and in play. If you were the victor in this battle, you can either join another ship in your area, or move onto the salvage phase. If you were destroyed, you must take a critical damage roll and follow its instructions (see page 12).
1. Other Players May Join
Other ships in your area (sharing your assignment or patrolling with you) may join your battle if they are not currently in a battle of their own.
Players in the same area can join each other's battles.
2. Discard
You must discard all cards in the play area. You may discard any number of cards that remain in your hand. If you save cards in your hand, that amount is deducted from your draw amount. In the event that you are required to draw cards and there are none, shuffle your discards to recreate your action deck.
C. Salvage
Once all enemies have been destroyed, or otherwise removed from the battle, roll for scrap for each destroyed ship. Use one die for each tier. (Tier 1 = one die, Tier 2 = two dice, Tier 3 = three dice). Once salvage has been gathered, discard the enemy ship's cards.
The salvage table reads:
- Commander = 1 die
- Tier 1 Enemy = 1 die
- Tier 2 Enemy = 2 dice
- Tier 3 Enemy = 3 dice
Distributing Salvage
If you are the only player ship in the battle, add the scrap to your scrap meter total.
If others joined your battle, you may distribute scrap as you see fit.
If you are in a group battle from an assignment or mission space, players who were the main target of a ship when it was destroyed take the salvage for that ship.
When conducting a battle, it is important to stay on the same phase as other ships that are in a battle in your area. One of you may be able to join the other upon completion of your battle.
Commanders
From time to time, you will find yourself confronted by an enemy commander (commander icon). These enemies can appear in your explorations as well as on specific spaces on assignment and mission cards. Enemy commanders are more difficult enemies with more potent abilities — but yield more fantastic rewards.
When told to draw a commander, you draw one enemy ship (enemy ship icon). The commander will occupy this ship, replacing that ship's normal abilities with their own. Once you have the enemy ship, draw one enemy commander card from the commander deck (commander icon). This commander card is placed on top of the ship's abilities as shown below.
Enemy commanders rarely travel alone. Each commander may bring additional ships into the battle with them. The amount of ships the commander brings is found under their name (ships icon).
The example commander card is labelled as follows:
- A. Commander name and the number of enemy ships drawn ("Alexander" — Draw +1 enemy ship.)
- B. Commander abilities (1. 2 Damage; 2. 1 Damage; 3. 2 Damage; 4. 1 Direct Damage; 5. 2 Damage; 6. 1 Damage)
- C. Commander rewards (1-2: 1 Random Silver Item; 3-4: 1 Random Gold Item; 5-6: 1 Random Epic Item)
The example enemy ship shown with the commander card is labelled "The Fes..." (name partially obscured), with abilities 1. 1 Damage, 2. 1 Damage, 3. 1 Damage, and 4-6 N/A.
When fighting an enemy commander, this ship acts as any other ship would. However, its abilities are replaced by those listed on the abilities section of the commander card (commander card icon B). Otherwise, this ship still rolls one die, plus an additional die for each active crew member, and gets hull equal to that defined by the tier on the left side of the ship card.
Commander Rewards
When you defeat an enemy commander, instead of taking the normal salvage roll, you roll only one die and take the reward listed under that number on the commander card (reward icon).
A reward roll on this commander may result in a four and gain you one random gold system.
Note: Defeating a commander is the only method of gaining an epic system.
Multiple Ship Battles
You may find yourself facing multiple enemies during a battle. During these types of battles, declaring targets becomes much more important.
Player and Enemy Targeting
In a battle, the players set their "formation" each phase by defining which player ship each enemy ship will attack. All enemy ships must attack one player ship, but may otherwise be distributed in any manner. For instance, one player ship could be the "Tank" and take all the enemy ship's attacks in a particular battle, thus freeing his allies to focus on attacking. It is handy to place the ship, or ships, targeting a player next to that player's ship mat.
Players must also define which ship they are targeting. All players may target a single ship if they wish, or split them up as they see fit.
The declaration of enemy targets and player targets must be defined prior to drawing action cards in the attack phase of the battle.
The example shows the Imperial ship out front taking all the damage, freeing the Bandit ship to attack, unhindered by the need of defensive tactics.
Evades and Reduction
Evades are not target-specific, and can be applied to incoming enemy attacks as you see fit. Thus, it is more practical to dodge the giant fireball before evading the pea shooter.
Damage reduction is applied to the total damage from all enemies attacking that ship.
Destroyed Ships
Once an enemy ship is destroyed, it is set aside until the end of the battle. If at least one player survives, they may proceed to the salvage phase of battle.
Warlords
If you are among the most daring in the fleet you may have selected a mission where you must confront a warlord (warlord icon).
Warlord Setup
At the start of a mission with a warlord, build that warlord by drawing one warlord personality card (personality card icon A). This card defines the enemy's hull strength as well as the overall structure of the battle.
Each warlord is equipped and supported by warlord ability (warlord ability icon B) and warlord wave cards (warlord wave icon C). The amount of these abilities and any other special abilities is located on the warlord personality card (warlord personality icon D).
Draw the number of each card indicated and place them face down next to the warlord. All of these cards should be placed off to the side until players reach the warlord icon on the mission progress track.
The warlord card diagram is labelled as follows:
- A. Warlord personality card (deck)
- B. Warlord ability card
- C. Warlord wave card
- D. Warlord personality card
Warlord Personality
The warlord personality defines the number of warlord ability (warlord ability icon) and warlord wave cards (warlord wave icon) to be used in the warlord battle. It also defines the amount of health a commander has.
The example warlord personality shown is "Commodore Von Gröbhausen", whose card reads: 1 (warlord ability icon) and 3 (warlord wave icon).
Warlord Abilities
In addition, warlords have abilities (warlord ability icon). There is no hiding from these destructive powers as they apply to each and every player ship and during every resolve phase of the battle.
The example warlord ability shown is "Agile Aggression": 1. 1 Damage; 2. Evade 1 Attack (attack icon); 3. 2 Damage; 4. Evade 1 Attack (attack icon); 5. 1 Damage; 6. Evade 2 Attacks (attack icon).
Warlord Waves
Waves (wave icon) are parts of the warlord battle that must be handled in sequence in order to reach the warlord himself. Each wave brings in enemy ships that must be defeated before you can reveal and move to the next wave card.
The example warlord wave shown is "Foul Villainy": Draw 1 enemy ship. Add 1 enemy commander per player. This commander brings no additional enemy ships.
Warlord Battle
In order to start the warlord battle, lay the cards out as shown below with the abilities on the left of the warlord personality, and the waves on the right. Reveal the first wave card and follow its instructions adding any required enemy ships. All of these ships must be destroyed before you can discard this wave and move on.
Defeating Waves
At the start of the "Resolve Enemy Actions" section of the attack phase, each player must roll once for each warlord action card. These actions apply to the player who rolled unless otherwise specified. Once all players have rolled, then proceed to resolve the remaining enemy ship's actions.
Note: The entire warlord battle occurs on a single day. No abilities are refreshed between waves.
During the regroup phase, if all enemy ships other than the warlord have been destroyed, discard the current wave card. Before starting the next attack phase, reveal the next wave card, follow its instructions, and bring any ships it requires into the battle. Once this is done, begin again working to defeat all the enemy ships.
Defeating the Warlord
If there are no remaining wave cards you may attack the warlord himself. The warlord continues to activate his ability cards once for each player during each attack phase. During the regroup phase if all of the warlord's hull has been destroyed, and at least one player ship has not been destroyed, you have successfully defeated the warlord!
Note: Until all warlord wave cards have been completed by defeating any ships they had, the warlord cannot take damage of any kind.
Return to Resupply
If you have completed your assignment or patrolled on this day, you must return to the resupply. Players who have not yet completed their assignment may abandon their current assignment to return to the resupply.
When you return to the resupply, place your ship marker on your ship mat. Players who are at the resupply place all crew and ship abilities off cooldown and repair any damaged hull upgrades free-of-cost. They may also freely purchase systems, hire crew members, and install systems held in cargo.
Trading
Each day, you may trade with your allies. Since you are on the move and constantly trying to complete assignments and missions, there is no time for large overhauls for each ship. Therefore, each ship may only give and receive one ship system (attack, maneuver, or tech), one crew member, or one amount of scrap each day. Giving and/or receiving does not have to be with the same ship. You may receive from one and give to another. Hull (structure or armor) is formatted for each individual ship and cannot be traded.
Critical Damage
If a player's ship ever has all hull upgrades damaged, they have taken critical damage and must immediately take a critical damage roll. They are removed from any assignment and must then return to the resupply.
Players who take critical damage while they have uninstalled systems lose those systems.
If your ship has no hull upgrades, the resupply barge is generous enough to outfit you with one structure hull upgrade free of charge.
When losing a hull upgrade, you may choose which hull upgrade to remove.
When losing an action deck card, shuffle all your action cards and draw the top one. This card is removed from the game along with any tile if it was a purchased system.
When losing a crew member, start with your first crew on the left-hand side of your ship. The crew personality is removed from the game, and the faction returns to the supply.
The critical damage roll table reads:
- 1-2. Lose 1 Hull (structure or armor)
- 3-4. Lose 1 Action Card
- 5-6. Lose 1 Crew Member
Single Player Rules
When playing Zephyr: Winds of Change in solo mode, all of the rules remain the same with a few alterations. When taking starting supplies, you may begin with an extra 10 scrap. In addition, any time you draw an assignment, you may draw two and choose one. Good luck flying solo — you're gonna need it!
Solo mode alteration summary, as shown on the page: +10 Scrap; +1 Assignment.
Variants
There are many ways to adjust play of Zephyr: Winds of Change. Some people like easier games, while others prefer heavier games. With a few adjustments, Zephyr can adapt to your particular tastes.
Campaign Mode
To create a longer gaming experience, you can play missions back-to-back while retaining system upgrades, hull upgrades, and crew members. Choose any number of missions and place them side-by-side; these will combine to create your mission. Only take the starting supplies from the first mission card. Once you reach tier three, all future regions are also tier three.
Harder/Easier
To make any mission easier, increase starting scrap by 10 or 20. To make any mission harder, reduce starting scrap by 10 or 20.
(Printed as "-10 / +10".)
Limited Resources
In this variant, at the start of the game and at the beginning of each new region, a unique shop is created. To create this shop, randomly select three system upgrades from each tier (bronze, silver, and gold). These are the only system upgrades available for purchase. Hull and armor upgrades are always available.
Shallow Talent Pool
In this variant, randomly assign a crew personality to one of each crew faction. These are the only crew available until a crew member is hired. As you hire crew members, replace the hired crew with another randomly selected crew of the same faction.
Glossary
+1 Crew: Add an additional crew marker to the enemy ship, even if there are no open spaces remaining.
1/day, 1/trip, 1/region: These cooldown lengths indicate how long a power will remain on cooldown. 1/day restores at the start of the following day. 1/trip restores upon returning to the resupply. 1/region restores upon entering a new region.
Action Card (action deck icon): Action cards are attack, maneuver, and tech cards that are either purchased, or in a ship's base deck. Each card has its own ability.
Activate: To activate means to use the ability or execute the action of a space, card, or ability.
Allies: Other player ships that join an assignment. Players may only join an assignment during the move phase and if that assignment has just been taken.
Armor (armor icon): A type of hull upgrade. It repels one damage. Damaged armor is repaired at the start of each day. Armor costs 20 scrap and must be installed on a hull upgrade slot with the armor icon. Armor can also refer to enemy ship armor represented by the same icon.
Assignment: Optional jobs that have a duration and specific criteria. Assignments gain rewards and may be required for some missions (see page 10).
Attack (attack icon): A type of action taken with the goal of producing damage to its target. Attacks may come from action cards or other abilities.
Attack Card: A type of action deck card that normally contains an attack action.
Attack Phase: The first phase of the battle. It consists of 1) declaring targets, 2) drawing cards and taking player actions, and 3) resolving enemy actions.
Area: An assignment or patrol location. Players occupy the same area when they are on the same assignment, in the same global mission event (such as a warlord battle). In addition, all ships patrolling occupy the same area.
Captain's Play: The player's automatic play of one card of any type. This simulates a captain's ability to perform at any station.
Choose: When the choose option is presented, a player must select one of the available choices.
Companion: A type of personality. If you draw a companion for a crew, immediately draw an additional personality. This new personality may not be another companion (see page 9).
Cooldown: The state that any crew faction ability, crew personality ability, and/or ship ability enters once it has been used. This power cannot be used again until it is placed off cooldown. Abilities that target another ability and place it on cooldown ignore that ability's action.
Crew Faction: A card used to define a particular crew member's faction. This card defines one of a crew member's two abilities. When hiring a crew, if there are no more factions of a certain type you may not hire a crew member from that faction.
Crew Member: Crew member refers to individuals that can be hired. Often, this is referring to the crew members currently occupying your ship.
Crew Personality: A card defining a particular crew member's personality. This card defines one of a crew member's two abilities. When hiring a crew, if there are no more crew personalities, you may hire a crew with faction only … apparently all the interesting crew are dead.
Critical Damage: If all of the structure and armor upgrades on your ship have been damaged, you have taken critical damage and must take a critical damage roll (see page 15).
Damage: Damage is dealt to a ship's hull (structure or armor). If a card says deal one damage when resolving the card (if it hits), damage one hull starting at the top. When removing a marker for enemy ships, flip one hull upgrade for player ships.
Day: The collective turn taken by all players that consists of 1) move, 2) explore, 3) complete assignments, 4) return to resupply, or 5) trade.
Direct Damage: Direct damage cannot be evaded or reduced. Direct damage does not consume evade or reduction plays.
Discard: The discard action happens at various times in the game. This occurs when a card is removed from active play and placed in the face-up, discard pile next to its native deck.
Draw: Cards drawn into your hand. Player's ships have a base hand-size dependent upon their upgrades (but may use abilities to draw more cards). There is no limit to hand size, but you must discard down to your base hand-size during the regroup phase of battle.
Enemy Ship (enemy ship icon): Cards are drawn at various times defining an enemy. Unless otherwise prevented, enemy ships will always fight you (see page 15).
Evade: A defensive action taken in battle. When a ship that played an evade has been attacked, that evade may be consumed to force one of the attack's damage so that it has no effect. If there are multiple attacks, a player may choose the attack in which to evade. An enemy ship always evades in the following order: 1) the attack dealing the most damage, 2) the attack from the highest valued system (base deck cards are lower than bronze), and 3) the attack that was played first.
Even: Even refers to when the number on a die/dice roll is an even number.
Explore: During the exploration phase of a day, players activate the space their ship marker occupies. When patrolling, this acts the same as a question space. The question icon signifies the choice between taking a skirmish card or a scavenge card. If a space has a commander icon, draw a commander — if there is a letter, follow the instructions on the assignment.
Faction: A group's alignment (e.g., Imperial, Rogue, Greaser, Bandit, etc.). Factions are found on ships and crew members.
Death: Death of many varieties can happen to any crew member. This event causes the crew to be removed from the ship, and the personality removed from the game.
Hull: All of a ship's hull upgrades (structure or armor). (For player ships, see page 7 section A; for enemy ships, see page 16.)
Immediately: An action that happens instantaneously — before anything else is resolved. Abilities that use this term can be used during any phase — even during the process of inflicting or taking damage.
Limit: Abilities with a "limit" cannot be activated more than the indicated limit defines. This applies even if other abilities bring it off of cooldown.
Maneuver (maneuver icon): A type of action that usually results in evasion or the reduction of damage. Maneuvers may come from action cards or other abilities.
Non-critical Damage: Damage that affects all but your last hull upgrade. Non-critical damage cannot destroy your ship.
Odd: Odd refers to when the number on a die/dice roll is an odd number.
Patrol: An option players may take instead of participating in an assignment. This has fewer rewards, but unlike longer trips, all abilities refresh on a daily-basis, and all hull is repaired as well (see page 12).
Random: Selecting a system part, crew personality, or another card by shuffling and taking a card without looking at it.
Reduce Damage / -1 Damage: Abilities that take the total of current incoming damage from all sources (excluding direct damage) and reducing it by the indicated amount.
Region: Region cards give a special effect while players are in a region indicated by the mission progress track. When entering a region, draw a new region card and discard any other in play (see page 10).
React: Opportunities to use your ship to solve problems (see page 14).
Regroup Phase: The recurring phase during each battle that follows the attack phase (see page 17).
Reward Roll: Uses a six-sided die and grants rewards as follows: 1-2: gain 1 random silver ship system, 3-4: gain 20 scrap, 5: gain 1 random gold ship system, 6: gain 30 scrap.
Repair/Restore: Returning damaged hull upgrades to their original state by flipping its tile over. Enemy ships may repair, but may not repair more hull than that indicated by the mission tier.
Roll: The use of a six-sided die, using the number shown on top for a given function.
Salvage/Scrap Roll: A roll specifically taken during the process of salvaging/scrapping. You gain scrap equal to the number showing on the die. This is most common when salvaging a destroyed enemy ship (see page 17).
Scavenge (scavenge icon): Scavenging is for those looking to avoid battles, but who find other interesting opportunities. This is an option available to a player who is patrolling, or who occupies a question space. When you choose the scavenge option, draw one card from the scavenge deck and follow its instructions.
Scrap: The resource used for making purchases. It can be gained through salvage or rewards, and spent to purchase upgrades, hire crew, or interact with other cards.
Set this Card Aside: Cards that use this phrase are placed on the table and are to be used at a later time.
Ship: Either enemy ships, warlords, or player-controlled ships.
Ship System: Attack, maneuver, and tech cards that can be purchased or won for your ship.
Skirmish (skirmish icon): Skirmishes are for those looking for a battle, and is an option available to a player who is patrolling or who occupies a question space. When you choose the skirmish option, draw one card from the skirmish deck and follow its instructions.
Target: Indicates the entity that receives the effect of an ability or card. In battle, players chose one target and mark it with their target token. All damage dealt by the player is directed at the target unless an ability or card states that it may target another entity.
Tech (tech icon): A tech is a type of action that gives utility-based activities. Tech plays may come from action cards or other abilities.
Tier: The region tier is defined on the mission card. Tiers are used for defining the difficulty of enemy ships and the scale of their rewards.
Trip: The time spent returning to the resupply. This can be the length of a single day while patrolling, or longer when on assignments.
Recommended Starting Builds
For those of you first playing Zephyr: Winds of Change, you may want to jump into a game without reading about every power and deducing the perfect strategy for your specific mission and team build. Indeed, it is a great idea to jump into the game and get to shooting stuff! For your first mission, we suggest you use the builds below. These are not necessarily the best builds you can have, but they particularly work well for new players. These are based on the starting supplies of the "Plane & Simple" mission.
- Imperial Scimitar: 2 Armor Hull; 1 Sprocket Rocket; 1 Greaser Crew; 1 Imperial Crew
- Rogue Spitfire: 2 Wildfire Cannons; 1 Wind Rider; 1 Steam Albatross; 1 Rogue Crew; 1 Bandit Crew
- Greaser Tub: 2 Armor Hull; 1 Sprocket Rocket; 1 Steam Albatross; 1 Rogue Crew
- Bandit Condor: 1 Structure Hull; 2 Wildfire Cannon; 2 Matchlock Repeaters; 2 Bandit Crew
- Merchant Gypsy: 1 Armor Hull; 1 Sprocket Rocket; 1 Steam Albatross; 1 Merchant Crew; 1 Imperial Crew